Wednesday, November 22, 2000
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Wednesday, November 22, 2000 |
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Impact fees: County, cities at odds
By DAVE HAMRICK
Elected leaders in Fayette's cities have drawn a line in the sand that county leaders don't seem willing to cross. And as long as the standoff continues, local taxpayers are the losers. Impact fees for a new county jail could save about $1 million of the $4 million annual debt service on the county's $58 million bond issue, which will pay for a complex that includes the jail and a new courthouse. After months of haggling, it appeared county and city leaders were on the same page and ready to approve plans to charge the fees, which are designed to get developers to help pay the costs associated with growth. But when city councils in Peachtree City, Fayetteville and Tyrone approved the fees over the last week, they included new language that obligates the county to house prisoners arrested by the city police departments for as long as the impact fees are collected. "City residents pay exactly the same taxes for services as anyone else," said Fayetteville Mayor Kenneth Steele after the City Council approved the new language Monday night. "We certainly are going to insist upon housing for our prisoners... they're not really our prisoners but prisoners that happen to be arrested in the city limits." The new wording in the cities' impact fee agreement obligates the county "to provide to the governing authorities detention facilities and related jail services for the incarceration of their detainees," but does not state that the county must provide those services at no charge, said Steele. But that's not the way county officials read it, said County Commission Chairman Harold Bost. "The way I read it, we would not stand any chance of being able to charge them a fee," Bost said. Under a 1994 agreement, the county houses all detainees arrested within the county at no charge. That agreement is automatically renewed every January, and requires all parties to give six months notice of plans to amend it, so the earliest the county could charge fees for city prisoners would be January 2002. Bost said there are no immediate plans to charge per diem fees, but added it wouldn't be right to obligate the county for the life of the impact fees, expected to be at least 20 years. "I cannot support getting the county into that position for the long range, foreseeable future," he said. If a fee were charged, the only prisoners affected would be those given jail time for minor offenses in the municipal courts, not those arrested in the cities but tried in the Magistrate, State and Superior courts, he said. Steele said city leaders weren't even thinking about the issue until the county recently announced plans to close the jail to new prisoners. Faced with overcrowding that brought up the fear of lawsuits, county commissioners discussed plans to do just that, but backed off after both county and municipal judges began to use more alternative sentencing to reduce the pressure. Bost said those discussions were necessary because of the fear that the county would have to pay for housing city prisoners in other facilities. That would have cost almost $1 million a year, he said. Checking building permits for the past year in a report issued by the city's Planning Department, Steele pointed out that about 75 percent of permits are issued within the cities, which means the cities would generate about 75 percent of the impact fees. "We must insist upon having space in our county-wide jail," he said. But the cities shouldn't equate the impact fees with operational funds for the jail, Bost said. Impact fees can be used only for construction. The cost of running the jail will come from the taxpayers and court fines, he said. "To me this is a simple process," said Commissioner Greg Dunn. "Without impact fees, the only impact is on the citizens, because we won't be able to give a reduction in the millage rate. We're figuring a million dollars a year in impact fees... those taxes are probably going to have to come from property taxes," he said. "The operation of the jail has nothing to do with impact fees. We can't allow a simple document that formalizes the rates and concept of impact fees to dictate operational matters," Dunn said. Bost said the impact fee issue is likely to come up when county and city leaders gather for the next FUTURE Committee meeting. The group, composed of both appointed and elected officials from all local governments, will meet in room 212 of the County Administrative Complex at 8 a.m. Wednesday, Nov. 29.
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